The appellate Court of Kiev postponed to August 26 the hearing of the appeal against the sentence of former interior Ministry General Alexei Pukach, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the deprivation of life of Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze, in the absence of the convict in court.

As reported, " in the beginning of the court session, the presiding officer of the Board of judges of Appellate court of Kiev Stepan Glady said from Kiev prison the Court has received information about the fact that Pukach today (Tuesday) could not attend the meeting for health reasons, because of what the court meeting rescheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) ".

in addition, side protection a victim in the case - Alexey Podolsky - didn't want to go to the gym due to the fact that their client on Several meetings were denied the right to participate in the consideration of the appeal. Before the Court banned Podolsk to attend the complaint review protection Pukach as long as long as the parties involved in the process will not complete the presentation in Court of their motions. Then Podolsk will be able to attend the meetings of the court.

The Pechersky district Court of Kiev on January 29, 2013 recognized Pukach guilty in the death of Gongadze and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court also ordered Pukach 62, 5 thousand dollars in favor of the family devoid of the life of a journalist.

Gongadze in April, 2000, he founded the Internet-the edition " Ukrainian truth ", which very quickly criticized the policies of former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. A few months Gongadze reported the Prosecutor's office about the unknown threats to your own address. In September of the same year, the journalist disappeared, returning home from work. Two weeks later, his headless body found in Tarashcha forest Kyiv region.

A few years Pukach was hiding from law enforcement, but in 2009 he was placed behind bars. In the course of the investigation, the former head of the Department for external intelligence service of the Ministry of interior admitted that he personally strangled the journalist at the direction of then head of the Ministry of internal Affairs Yury Kravchenko. The court in its own sentence showed that Pukach committed the murder, wanting to move up the career ladder. Mention about custom-made character of murder in the sentence was not.

sections: Politics